Chapter 1017: Crises Looming on the Road Ahead

The captain's cabin of Mark was filled with the rich smoke of Cuban cigars.

He leaned back in his chair, a hint of a survivor's smile lingering at the corners of his mouth.

This steel behemoth had already sailed dozens of nautical miles, leaving that dangerous stretch of sea far behind; in his view, he had already waded through these murky waters.

But the next second, the cabin door was pushed open.

A yellow-skinned man walked in silently.

Mark's eyelids twitched violently, his intuition feeling as if it had been pricked by a needle; he subconsciously straightened his back, his voice tightening uncontrollably: "Who are you?"

The person who arrived was none other than He Yuzhu, who had already cleared out everyone dangerous on this warship.

"Here to collect you people."

Mark's hand trembled, and the cigar held between his fingers fell onto the polished tabletop with a "clatter," the burning red tip scorching a small charred mark, yet he remained completely unaware, staring fixedly at this uninvited guest before him.

He Yuzhu suddenly smiled, that smile carrying a touch of playfulness: "Are you the captain of this ship?"

Mark nodded repeatedly, "This gentleman! I don't know who you are, but I swear, I absolutely did not actively provoke your warship!"

He was indeed very clever; from the moment he saw He Yuzhu, he had vaguely guessed the other party's identity.

He Yuzhu said: "Even if you didn't actively provoke us, you participated in intercepting our warship. You are also an accomplice, and I will not let you off either."

Before the words had even faded, He Yuzhu raised his hand and waved it casually.

Mark evaporated from the spot in an instant, leaving only the cigar ash still flickering on the tabletop in the captain's cabin.

For the next four full hours, He Yuzhu cleared out all the people and items on this landing ship and another supply ship.

The three M Country warships drifted with the ocean waves just like ghost ships, yet there was not a single person on board.

By the time He Yuzhu returned to the deck of his own warship, the horizon was already turning a fish-belly white.

Captain Li had been waiting for him; seeing him return, his tense shoulders finally relaxed, and he nodded solemnly: "Thank you, Mr. Zhou."

He Yuzhu said with a smile: "Sail on the route you consider safe."

Captain Li also revealed a look of relief, "You get some good rest; there shouldn't be any problems ahead."

He Yuzhu slept soundly, for a full day and night, as if he had been nailed to the bed.

When he pushed open the cabin door again and stepped onto the deck, the warship had already entered the international waters of the Arabian Sea.

Looking out, the surroundings were an endless expanse of ink-blue deep sea, a color much deeper and darker than the waters of the South China Sea, mainly because this sea area had a higher salinity; as the sunlight poured straight down, the entire sea surface shattered into a layer of flowing silver light, blindingly dazzling.

The waves were not particularly large, just long swells pushing forward slowly one after another, and those continuous surges came running from afar, pushing the ten-thousand-ton hull to sway gently along with them.

He Yuzhu performed a set of boxing moves against the sea breeze, loosening up his body, with fine beads of sweat already forming on the tip of his nose.

He finished his stance and was about to turn back to the cabin for breakfast when he heard a burst of hurried footsteps.

He looked back to see Doctor Liu running over in a rush; she reached his side in a few steps, and before she had caught her breath, she leaned in and spoke, "Old He, I didn't want to disturb you yesterday, but how did those last few M Country ships turn out?"

"I snuck on board and went to negotiate with them; I didn't expect them to be quite reasonable, and so they quickly agreed not to provoke us," He Yuzhu lied.

"Do you take me for a child? Using such a childish lie to fool me?" Doctor Liu said with great dissatisfaction.

"What good would it do you to know the real situation?" He Yuzhu countered.

"I want to know if you have that kind of magical ability, for example, waving your hand and collecting people into a gourd. Then refining them in an alchemy furnace for forty-nine days," Doctor Liu joked.

"Don't talk to outsiders about the gourd, understand?" He Yuzhu joked.

Doctor Liu then giggled and lowered her voice: "I drank a little of the Immortal Water in that bottle, and suddenly I felt exceptionally powerful; is this normal?"

He Yuzhu nodded; remembering what the system had said, he became a bit more courteous toward Doctor Liu and said: "You are a person without bad intentions; if you have anything in the future, just tell me."

Doctor Liu said with a grin: "I just want to hear about the future world; it would be even better if you could mention some directions for medical development."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said: "I can tell you some things about medicine, though not in detail. Over the next twenty-plus years, the medical field has changed greatly; to treat cancer, targeted drugs and immunotherapy were born; genetic screening can avoid hereditary diseases early... minimally invasive surgery can significantly reduce surgical trauma... epidemics occurred in 2003 and 2019..."

He Yuzhu told Doctor Liu everything selflessly based on his limited knowledge of medicine.

Doctor Liu listened intently, and when He Yuzhu finished, she said with a smile: "I have a research direction now..."

"Having a direction is great, but I need to eat breakfast; having slept for a day and a night, my stomach is empty," He Yuzhu said and walked toward the cabin.

When He Yuzhu returned to the small canteen, he saw Deputy Minister Sun and Captain Li both eating breakfast.

He Yuzhu approached and asked: "Have you received any new news?"

Captain Li said: "The M Country side has started protesting again, saying that we are related to the disappearance of their fleet and wanting us to cooperate with the investigation."

He Yuzhu smiled, "It's really not easy for M Country to just protest without taking action."

Captain Li said: "However, these M Country people won't let it go easily; they will still use all sorts of tricks. But they haven't been doing well lately, so they shouldn't have the confidence to tear off the mask with us."

He Yuzhu smiled, "That's good, so you mean we won't have any trouble on this journey?"

Captain Li said: "On the way from the Arabian Sea to the South China Sea, the biggest trouble comes from the M Country base on Diego Garcia Island in the south. That isolated island is deployed with bombers, anti-submarine aircraft, and nuclear submarines."

He Yuzhu said in a low voice: "If they dare to provoke us again, I will blow up their military base."

Captain Li smacked his lips, his brows relaxing slightly: "The self-detonation of their nuclear submarine seems to have really shocked them. Usually, we would have at least two or three 'tails' following us, but this time, it's clean; we haven't seen a single one."

He Yuzhu turned to the side and asked in a lowered voice: "Based on your experience, will they find an opportunity to take action on this journey?"

Captain Li shook his head slowly, his gaze falling on the sea chart, his tone carrying a bit of certainty: "I don't think they dare. The entire carrier strike group was fed to the fish; that sucker punch is enough to keep them reeling for several years. Right now, they are probably afraid to even get close, let alone provoke us."

He Yuzhu's eyes darkened, and he said: "Don't worry, I am prepared here at any time."

The subsequent journey was not exactly peaceful; in order to save face, the M Country side kept interfering along the way, and Captain Li had to spend a lot of effort maneuvering.

The warship's radar alarm sounded from time to time. He Yuzhu did not take action again because he could see that the M Country side was just posturing for the sake of face.

He Yuzhu, on the other hand, had a pleasant conversation with Doctor Liu; since the barriers were removed, He Yuzhu no longer had any guard against her, instead finding that she had many new perspectives, which were very interesting.